1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to radio systems, and particularly to modular constructions or architectures for such systems.
2. Discussion of the Known Art
Radio communications systems, including systems that provide communications for vehicles in the military, typically include a number of interconnected modules each of which contains a certain group of system components. For example, a known ground mobile radio (GMR) ground vehicle aerodynamics (GVA) system includes modules such as power amplifiers, transceivers, and certain platform interface modules (PIM). Such systems may also include a so-called core engine (CE) radio transceiver module and other devices that require specified voltages and signals in order to operate. In a CE module, the radio hardware may reside on two circuit cards, viz, a modem card and a radio frequency (RF) card. The modem card provides digital signal processing (DSP) and baseband to intermediate frequency (IF) signal conversions, and the RF card provides IF to RF signal conversions for transmission and reception of communications signals over specified channels.
Although a CE module and its components may have the potential for use with a number of different vehicle platforms or hosts, a problem arises in that the interfaces provided by the hosts for connecting with and operating the module may differ from one host to another, or are otherwise unsuitable. A need therefore exists for a system wherein the power and signals supplied by a given host interface, are adapted or converted to the power levels and signals specified for a CE or other communications module that is to be used by the host platform.